The effects of losing six straight matches – a league loss to Grace Baptist and five in the Tennessee Tandem tournament – were still bothering Silverdale Baptist Academy in a District 5-A volleyball match at Boyd-Buchanan.
But not nearly as much as the Lady Bucs’ sterling play.
Boyd-Buchanan (23-13, 5-1 District 5-A), which also lost to Grace last Thursday, gained momentum throughout the match and wound up posting an impressive 3-0 sweep, with set scores of 25-23, 25-17, 25-8.
“This win is really good for our team,” said senior Kristen Reynolds, who was honored before the match with a plague for surpassing 3,000 career assists.
“I think this is our year to go to state. We gained some extra confidence today.”
Brought up to the varsity squad as an eighth-grader, Reynolds went into the 2014 season as the state’s No. 5 player in career assists.
“That’s crazy,” Reynolds said. “I’m just happy I’ve been able to contribute to the team, but that’s awesome.”
Dodd said that Tuesday’s victory pretty much erased the Lady Bucs’ lackluster play last week in their upset loss to Grace.
“We were very flat in that match,” said Dodd, in his first year at Boyd-Buchanan. “Our problem is we lose energy, we’re easily lulled to sleep and don’t stay aggressive. This win should give the girls more confidence.”
Dodd was without star players for the Grace match. Reynolds was sidelined with strep throat and Maddie Balthrop was competing with the Lady Bucs in the region golf tournament.
Reynolds was credited with 17 assists, four kills and three aces against the Lady Seahawks. Balthrop contributed eight kills, 3 digs, one block and one ace.
Their presence on the court meant a combined 16 points for the Lady Bucs.
Reynolds will sign a college scholarship in November with Cedarville (Ohio) University. She was also offered by schools in Tennessee and South Carolina.
“I was looking for a good Christian school and Cedarville also gave me the best scholarship offer,” she said.
Silverdale coach Nathan Daugherty was without two middle hitters for Tuesday’s match, including Kayleigh Reynolds, who suffered an apparent torn meniscus in her left knee – she was on crutches – and will undergo an MRI to determine the extent of the injury.
“It hurt not having those girls,” Daugherty said. “Like I’ve said before we’re a young team and I think that youth was exposed today. The girls are making good progress, making good defensive adjustments, but we’re still young.
“We’ve got to figure out to keep fighting in every single set.”
Boyd-Buchanan built a quick 5-1 lead in the first set, but the Lady Seahawks tied it up at 11-11 on Lindsay Barlew’s shot. The Lady Bucs won five straight points for a 16-11 advantage and took a 21-16 lead on Madison Balthrop’s winner.
Silverdale tied the score at 23-all on a Boyd-Buchanan miscue at the net and Asia Kirkman clinched the first-set win with back-to-back kills that Silverdale players could not keep in play.
In Set 2, Boyd-Buchanan once again raced to an early 8-1 lead, but this time they maintained an edge throughout and the Lady Seahawks never caught up.
The Lady Bucs extended the lead to 12-2 on Halie Williamson’s only ace of the set. When Silverdale (11-10, 4-2) committed an error near the net, it was down by 18-10.
Boyd-Buchanan stretched the point cushion to 21-10 on a Reynolds’ tip and Sarah Emery’s kill. Silverdale scored six of the next eight points and closed the gap to 23-17, but the Lady Bucs got a point when Silverdale’s Molly Rumfelt’s shot missed the mark and Emery and Balthrop teamed up for a set-clinching block.
The third set boiled down to a rout.
The Lady Bucs jumped to another early lead at 8-1, stretched it to 10-2 and were up 17-7 on Kirkman’s tap near the sideline.
From there Body-Buchanan outscored the Lady Seahawks 10-1 with Katie Delay scoring four of the final five points on successive service points.
Delay had a match-high 28 digs, five aces and three assists in the win.
Delay will be honored later this season for surpassing 4,000 career digs – a state record bettering the old mark of 3,485 set by East Ridge’s Meredith Haskew in 2003-06.
She also has state records for 32 aces in a match and most digs in a season (1,383). She ranks second and third in the career digs in a match with 69 and 68.
Like Reynolds, Delay joined the Lady Bucs’ varsity team as a eighth-grader.
STATISTICS
Boyd-Buchanan
Madison Balthrop – 3 digs, 8 kills, 1 block, 1 ace
Abbie Sewell – 1 dig, 3 kills
Saraha Emrey – 5 digs, 8 kills, 2 blocks
Katie Delay – 28 digs, 3 assists, 5 aces
Asia Kirkman – 8 digs, 11 kills
Kristen Reynolds – 4 kills 17 asists, 3 aces
Allie Ray – 2 digs,
Erin Syring – 1 kill, 1 block
Halie Williamson – 8 assists, 1 ace
Sarah Keller – 3 digs, 1 assist
Silverdale
Caroline Couch – 21 hits, 8 kills, 3 assists, 4 digs
Falyn Blalock – 10 assists, 5 digs
Jordan Cooper – 21 hits, 6 kills, 4 digs
Molly Rumfelt – 11 hits, 1 kill, 2 digs
Elise Pearson – 5 hits, 2 kills
Lindsay Barlew – 10 digs
Katie White – 2 digs